Honestly, I should be a Psychiatrist, I over-analyze things WAY too much; but, I also think that is why I am more mature.
My mom and I were talking about Christ-Like attributes tonight, but, this has also been a topic thats been on my mind as of late. What are all of them? What are your strengths? What are your weak spots? What do you WANT to work on?
My personal Top 3 picks are:
*Constant Forgiveness
*Never Judges
and
*Unending and unfailing Love (Charity)
I may say I hate someone, but, I really don't. Writing is my form of letting the things out that get bottled up and "saying" my suppressions the way they "should" be said; that being stated, it is ALWAYS going to be exaggerated and I will make it sound worse than it is because I am a pessimist. (According to my sister-in-law, she says I'm a "REALIST", ha ha, THX Karen!)
Got it? OK, lets move on.
I have come to the conclusion that LDS people are more judgmental and non-LDS people are less judgmental. Why? Do you ask? Because in our SAFE LDS world we are protected from the "bad walks" in life, which leaves us ignorant and therefore to be more judgmental of what we "think" we know. Non-LDS people come from MANY bad walks in life so they are more understanding and less judgmental of you, which is why I think I have more non-member friends.
My WHOLE life I have tried to have friends from church or seminary but, no one seemed to want to have anything to do with me which is why I never felt like I belonged and that I was different. I feel more accepted and comfortable with non-LDS people. The few LDS friends I DO have, have come from some form of difficult backgrounds themselves and we have a mutual understanding of another and we know we can rely on each other. In all honesty, it REALLY is a miracle I am still an active member of this church. You really have no clue how true that is.
My Christlike goals: I want to be more loving, accepting, and forgiving of others and be more charitable.
I realize I may over share, be too negative, annoying, or whatever else, and I DO feel bad for myself because I don't have that many friends, but, I'd rather be true to me, be loved by God regardless, than pretend to be someone I'm not or be a hypocrite. I'm not going to act "holier than thou" and then not live it, thats WRONG. I realize I don't go to the temple often, say my prayers, read my scriptures, or have that much of a testimony right now, but, you know what? I know God loves me and is there no matter what and will greet me with open arms when ever I decide to embrace them. I may have my own internal struggles with the church, God, or myself, but, I can not imagine my life with out the church. Other churches are too confusing and pushy.
~I may not always love the people, but, I will ALWAYS love the Gospel.~
Here are 2 of my philosophy's to life:
"I would rather live my life as if there is a God to die to find out there isn't, than to live my life as if there isn't a God to die to find out there is."
"LIVE SIMPLY, LOVE GENEROUSLY, CARE DEEPLY, SPEAK KINDLY. AND LEAVE THE REST TO GOD."
Let our loving Heavenly Father and all sacrificing BROTHER jESUS Christ BE THE ULTIMATE JUDGE; NOT US.
wHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?
You took the words right out of my mouth! Utah LDS members are more judgemental and rude because they live in Utah and the Mormons founded this state so they have that stuck up attitude like they're better then everyone else.
ReplyDeleteI was born and raised in Utah but I have never treated anyone like that and I never acted that way towards people. I never had that many friends in school and I didn't really get along with people in church or my seminary classes cause I was Gothic and that's "frowned" upon. Over the past couple of years I've been struggling with keeping my testimony and there was a time that I didn't considered myself LDS.
I believed in God but I didn't believe in religion so I considered myself Agnostic but I'm finally starting to get back to going to church after being inactive for 4 years and I'm trying to regain my testimony and it's hard since I'm use to living a non LDS life. If you need anyone to talk to I'm here.
I completely agree (yes I am full on blog stalking right now). I have had my own screw ups and I remember someone once telling me that he was trying to forgive me-for something I did before I even knew him and it wasn't his place to forgive-That really upset me that there are people out there that are so ignorant or naive that they feel that way. I do strongly believe that Heavenly Father judges us individually. We aren't all the same and we all have different struggles but as long as we understand the gospel and live to the fullest...as we see fit...then we will all be alright. Ignore the other people, living both inside and outside of Utah I have discovered a lot of members have the holier than thou attitude. But not all of them and you need to find the ones that don't and let them know how much they mean to you and as long as you know the church is true and you are living your life the best that's for you, no one should be able to bother you. They obviously have their own problems and insecurities. Anyway, I'll get off my soap box now.
ReplyDelete"I agree on the LDS being judgemental and Non-LDS not being as judgemental." - Gato.
ReplyDelete"I loved your last blog entry! I completely agree! And no you aren't a pessimist, you are a REAList!" - Karen Ford
Thanks for the feed back everyone! It means a lot :)
"Really enjoyed that one. I do agree on the judgmental statement too. To add to that a bit, the "Utah Mormon" thing is very true. Living outside of Utah for 11 years of my life has shown that to me, and currently I can say that after working at AVH with nothing but LDS people for the most part, I hardly had any really close friends. After 3 years here, I have many at work. This is one reason I don't know if I ever want to move back to Utah. You, Amber, Harlin, Cade and Camdynn are the only reasons I want to be there. This insight will bring you closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus in a way you haven't experienced before. :)"
ReplyDelete- My mom
I think it shows a lot about you though, that you still are an active member of the church both because of all you've been through and because you don't get along with the members. I think that makes you pretty amazing. I've probably said the before, but In a lot of ways I'm glad that I've come from a family that's not active because you get to see both sides of things, ya know? People in the church being judgemental has bothered me a lot at times too, but I just take comfort in the fact that the church actually teaches us to NOT be judgmental.
ReplyDeleteKarissa, it's people like you who ACTUALLY appreciate the church, and actually make a difference in peoples' lives. I love how loving and understanding you are and I LOVE that about you :) I also think that the people who are the judgmental ones are the people that also take the church for granted.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in a different culture (the U.K.) with people from all around the world, for 2 1/2 years of my adult life, I think I can safely say that there are judgmental and hypocritical people everywhere, whatever they are and whatever religion they claim to ascribe to. And there are time sin each of our lives where we are that way, even if it's just in thought. More than anything else, I think a tendency to judge stems more from not knowing who you are, than from anything the person you're avoiding might represent. Does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteAs far as the "Utah Mormon" question is concerned, I think that boils down to whether we are converted to the gospel or the culture. Our conversion to the gospel may not even be evidenced by a complete acceptance of people around us who are "different" (because that might just be shyness) but it will be shown by divine discontent. In other words - are we comfortable/complacent with where we are at as individuals (especially if that means we're at least doing better than some "other" people we know) or are we continually striving upward? -- not because we need to be something for someone else, but because in heeding the call to come unto Christ we allow Him to change our natures and cast off the natural tendencies to judge - even to where we avoid judging/labeling the judgmental or unjust.